How long can we live? The limit hasn’t been reached

Among extremely old Italians, the death rate stops rising — the curve abruptly flattens into a plateau. Researchers also found that people who were born in later years have a slightly lower mortality rate when they reach 105. “The plateau is sinking over time,” said Kenneth W. Wachter, a demographer at the University of California, Berkeley, who co-authored the new study. “Improvements in mortality extend even to these extreme ages.”